In wireless access networks, a base station may transmit, to mobile station, a control information element that provides information about resource allocation and associated signaling for an uplink transmission. This information may include an allocated uplink resource size, a location of an uplink region that may be utilized by the mobile station, transmission format, an acknowledgment channel index in the downlink, etc. False detection of such a control information element may cause a mobile station to transmit uplink traffic in another mobile station's resource resulting in a traffic collision. Repeated traffic collisions may occur if the resource is a persistently allocated uplink resource. Furthermore, incorrect detection of the acknowledgment index in a network that relies on synchronous hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) transmissions may result in multiple retransmissions by a mobile station when it detects a negative acknowledgment intended for another mobile station.
To avoid multiple invalid transmissions due to a single false detection of an uplink control information element, a mobile station may check the downlink acknowledgment channel to determine if a base station acknowledges an initial transmission from the mobile station. However, if the mobile station incorrectly detects the acknowledgment index in the control information element, it may incorrectly detect an acknowledgment meant for another mobile station.